Chapter 20: Special
Enzo
Nina’s confession hit me like a ton of bricks. As soon as she described what she saw, I was reminded of a conversation I had with the dean the day prior…
The dean called me to her office to tell me something urgent. I was there in mere moments; having the ability to teleport was one of the werewolf traits that I appreciated the most sometimes. “Oh, good,” she said, sitting at her desk. “Take a seat.’
I sat across from her. “What’s so urgent?” I asked. The dean rubbed her forehead and sighed. “You haven’t been shifting on campus, have you?” “No, of course not,” I replied. “I know better than that.”
She nodded and clasped her hands in front of her on the desk. “Students have been reporting sights of shifters on campus. Just last week, a girl claimed that she was followed home at night by what she described as a’ human-cat hybrid’. The day after that, a male student was caught running through the dorms in only his towel, banging on doors and screaming about a wolf staring at him through his window… on the fourth floor.”
I furrowed my brow and leaned forward. “What would other shifters be doing here?”
The dean shrugged. “I don’t know. Your presence, perhaps. No doubt they see you on the television and in the news, and recognize you as a shifter right away. Maybe they think it’s alright to come and terrorize my students.”
The dean also explained to me that she was sending students to see a hypnotherapist, who had succeeded in hypnotizing them into forgetting all about their encounters with shifters. But now, I was realizing that there was one student who couldn’t be hypnotized… 2
Nina. I put my number in her phone and took her home after that. It was hard for me to watch her walk away; she looked so sexy in her blue waitress uniform, and I just wanted to finish what we started in the locker room, but now was not the time.
Not only did I promise the dean I would investigate the sudden influx of shifters on campus, but I was curious now about why the hypnotherapy didn’t work on Nina when it worked on everyone else. Was this somehow linked to why Fio was so obsessed with her?
I didn’t go back to my dorm that night. I drove my motorcycle right past the dorms and toward my father’s home, which was located an hour away from the campus.
The house was situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean. My father had it custom built when he decided to do business in the human world; it was a lot different from the architecture I was used to back at home. Instead of ancient stone walls and marble floors, this house was built in a modern style, with massive windows that looked out over the ocean and an open layout on the main floor. There was a heated infinity pool in the backyard and a hot tub, as well as a manicured walkway with stairs that led down to our own private beach.
I never liked this house all that much, but it was the perfect disguise; a billionaire and his playboy son, moving into a contemporary home along the ocean with our fancy sports cars and designer suits.
My mother would’ve hated it. She was a werewolf through and through; our castle was her home, and the forest her playground. Ever since she died, my father pushed away our old life in exchange for this cold, modern, human life.
The house was dark when I pulled up, but I could see a light flickering in the backyard. I walked around the outside of the house to see a few members of my father’s pack sitting around the fire pit, talking and laughing while they smoked cigars and drank whiskey.
My father’s pack was small, but close- knit. There were only five, not including my father. Someday, I would be alpha, but for now I was more of an apprentice to my father. They all looked up in unison as I approached the fire.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Lewis, my father’s beta, said. He stood and walked over to me with a grin, clapping me on the back. “What brings you here on a school night?”
I pulled Lewis aside for some privacy and spoke quietly. “I need some help looking into someone,” I said. “Her name is Nina Harper. She’s a student at my school.”
“New girlfriend?” Lewis said, flicking some ash from his cigar onto the ground. “Not yet,” I replied, “but there’s something strange about her. I can’t explain it. Just look into her for me, will you?”
“Sure thing, kid,” Lewis replied with a nod. I turned to walk back to my motorcycle. “Leaving so soon?” Lewis said, sounding disappointed.
“Hockey game in the morning,” I replied. “Besides, I was just out riding around. Figured I’d stop by.” Lewis nodded and watched me leave. I stopped and looked back at him one more time. “Oh, and Lewis?”
“Hm?”
“Don’t tell my father.” The next morning, I woke up feeling groggy after a mostly sleepless night. Worrying about Nina with all of these shifters around made sleep difficult. Why was I even worrying about her?
Why was I so invested in her already? We had only hooked up once, and made out in the locker room after that. I had sworn to myself that I wouldn’t get emotionally attached to any of the human girls at this school… What was so special about Nina?
I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed for my hockey game, stopping briefly in the dining hall to grab some breakfast. I picked up a breakfast sandwich and some coffee to go, and as I exited the dining hall, I ran into Justin.
He avoided eye contact and hung his head low, but the image of Nina’s red and sore wrist last night flashed through my mind and infuriated me. Without thinking, I suddenly grabbed Justin by the shirt collar and dragged him around the corner of the building, pinning him against the wall with my teeth bared.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growled. Justin continued to hang his head. I could tell that he knew he deserved it after what he did last night.
“If you touch Nina without her consent again, I’ll make your life a living hell,” I whispered, trying my best not to choke him right then and there. “And you’re sitting on the bench for the next three games. Got it?”
Justin shuddered, but nodded in understanding. I released my grip on his shirt and gave him one swift smack on the side of his head, leaving him rubbing the point of impact and whimpering, before I strode off toward the arena.
When I first came to this stupid university, the only thing that truly made its way into my heart was hockey. If I had only spent my four years here playing on the team, I would’ve been perfectly happy… But it seemed now that Nina had made her way into my heart, too.
At first, I thought that Nina was just an ordinary human girl, and that my feelings for her would subside quickly. However, I was quickly learning that Nina was anything but ordinary.
